Fate's Folly
by Burning.Mirrors
Summary: A great renewal of the Force's influence is underway, championed by a scavenger from Jakku; but the extent of its consequences has yet to be seen. While sacrifice has ensured the balance of Light and Dark, still there is a dissonance in the cosmos that feeds off the pervasive threat of a new galactic conflict. In order to survive, the race to find the ultimate weapon must be won.
1. Chapter 1: The Awakening

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 **Fate's Folly**  
 **Chapter 1: The Awakening**

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" _Reveal itself, a Conduit should."_

 _There was hope, then. A flicker, or at least a glowing ember._

" _When? What will become of the Force until it does? It's already so much quieter than I've ever known it to be, Master."_

"… _Endure the Force always has, and silenced it cannot be. Awakened by a great disturbance the Conduit can be. Weak is the Dark side, yet still strong enough that survive it may."_

 _A sigh. He closed his eyes._

 _Just as the Dark side was weaker, so was the Light side. With no one to connect with them, both sides had become quieter and quieter as the years passed._

" _This Conduit; what effect could it have on the Force? Can we control it?"_

" _Give you these answers- you know I cannot. Begin preparations you should, for there is much to be done... Mindful you must be. Discover the Conduit you cannot until awaken it has; and reach it before the Dark side you must."_

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Nearly twenty years he had waited, and still he clung to that small hope.

Watching his Padawan work through her stances and forms, exemplifying the diligence and focus that he had often lacked when he was her age, Luke couldn't help but be emboldened by her progress. It had been nearly half a year since Rey first came to him at the ruins of the First Temple at Ahch-To, her appearance signaling a shift in the tides and a new chance to fulfill his Master's dying wish. Rey's connection to the Force was strong and unobstructed, and he often wondered how she could have gone through her life without ever knowing it.

Now the scavenger girl from Jakku, born of unknown parentage and sculpted by the harsh sands that surrounded her in her formative years stood before him as nearly a fully qualified Jedi. In the beginning of her training she had struggled like so many before her, the internal turmoil and impetuousness of her spirit proving to be at odds with the Jedi Code she was attempting to adhere to. But the Light had always been within her, flaring brightly like a well-fed flame and keeping her on the Jedi path. And the Light was there still, but more refined; more tempered.

Luke was fairly certain that was what had drawn her to the lightsaber that had once belonged to his father, and apparently what caused it to favor her over any other. As far as he was concerned, for what little it mattered, Anakin's lightsaber belonged to her now. After its initial loss, when he had been forced to craft his own lightsaber, Luke had resigned himself to never seeing it again- in some ways, it was a reminder of who his father had once been and it was that spirit he hoped would guide Rey when his own could not. Anakin lived on in the Cosmic Force, and to some degree Luke believed that it was his redeemed father who sought to bring them together.

As the sun climbed higher in the sky and humidity began to settle heavily on the island, Luke drew his Padawan to a pause with a gesture of his hand. Her shoulders heaved slightly with exertion as she holstered her lightsaber, hands finding purchase on her hips as she used the brief respite to catch her breath while awaiting his guidance. She had been up since before the break of dawn, practicing of her own accord, and as such Luke felt comfortable dismissing her to meditate until their mid-day meal instead of having her continue with her forms.

Rey responded with a few short bobs of her head in acquiescence before she started the walk toward the rocky overhang that had rapidly become one of her favorite spots. He watched her disappear as she rounded the corner of a crumbling rock wall before sequestering himself in the few remaining building that made up the temple compound. The Force flowed freely here, a fact that he believed had encouraged Yoda to appear to him when he first arrived on Ahch-To more than five years ago. He thought often of their conversation that day, of a mysterious Conduit that would awaken and could help them, assuming they ever found it.

It had taken a few weeks after Rey's arrival for Luke to realize that she was not the Conduit that his master had spoken of. When he first felt the Cosmic Force react to her awakening it had been very faint, a mere flutter he is sure he would not have felt had he not been meditating and openly searching for it; it was hardly the disruption he had been told of. But a short time later, he felt the Force shudder- so much so that it almost took his breath away. It was Rey who had told him about the events that had transpired between the First Order and the Resistance, including the firing of the First Order's Starkiller Base and the destruction of the entirety of the Hosnian system. The untold number of deaths coinciding with each other caused both aspects of the Force to rapidly swell and expand, a ripple spreading throughout the galaxy that was far stronger than anything he had experienced in his lifetime.

Although the Cosmic Force was more tangible in the months following the destruction of Hosnian Prime, it was still much weaker than what he had known in his youth; but it was getting stronger with each passing day. The only explanation Luke could come to was that the awakening of the Conduit had coincided with firing of the Starkiller Base superweapon and, as such, any effect the Conduit had on the Force went unnoticed. Or so he hoped.

When Rey told him of the man who pulled the strings behind the guise of the First Order, he knew there was little good that could come of allowing something potentially so powerful to end up in his grasp. It couldn't be coincidence that the one who tempted his nephew away from the Light and the de facto leader of the First Order shared the same name; if nothing else, it all seemed like a cruel joke. A sadistic mockery of how his own father had been lead to the Dark side by someone who hid his personal vendettas behind the shield of a government. If Snoke were to somehow acquire the Conduit, there's no way of telling what he would destroy or how many he would kill until he reached his goals.

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Rey exhaled slowly through her mouth, the salty breeze that the sea brought in cooling the sweat that had settled on her skin. Meditating had become as easy as breathing to her- all she had to do was sit down, close her eyes, and in no time she could sense her consciousness slipping away from her body and mingling with the Force. She felt every shift, every tug- like billions of tiny threads were telling her that she was not as alone as she felt. Rey had a family after all; an entire galaxy of relatives, most of whom she would never meet but were connected to her just the same. She wondered often if, had she learned this younger, she would have spent fewer days waiting for parents who would never come. Rey knew she had unconsciously realized that fact more than ten years ago, but by then her excuse for remaining on Jakku had been all but cemented in her daily existence; by every ship of smugglers and traders that came to buy from Unkar Plutt and that might have given her a ride off-world, but left before she could convince herself to go with them.

She had been so afraid.

For so many years, the trepidation of missing out on what she wanted more than anything else had driven nearly all her actions, up to the very day she first climbed the steps to the temple on Ahch-To. Becoming a Padawan to the man many believed to be the last Jedi was the moment she finally could let go of all the mounting fears and worries, because by then she had no reservations about finally letting all of it go.

The hardest thing to rid herself of was interestingly enough not her fear or desires but her anger, most of which was directed at the First Order as a whole, though a few individuals came to mind as well. First in her mind had always been Snoke, some faceless phantom of a man she blamed for every evil that was occurring in the galaxy, and whom she hated for the sake of every life he had ruined. Similarly, there was not much love lost for Snoke's apprentice Kylo Ren; and certainly not after he drove his lightsaber through Han Solo's chest and put her closest friend into a medically induced coma. Upon leaving D'Qar, Rey didn't even know if Finn would still be alive once she returned- still, she did her best to believe that if Finn had died she would have felt it, no matter how far apart they were.

In her pleasantly dull meditative haze she easily felt Master Luke reaching out to her, summoning her for their midday meal. Upon opening her eyes Rey allowed herself to gaze for a few more brief seconds across the wide expanse of ocean surrounding her before climbing to her feet and retreating back toward the heart of the ruins. She always ate around midday and before sundown, but Master Luke was far less predictable. She had her suspicions that he had been fasting for a majority of his years in hiding, using the Force to help keep him alive and draw out the life of his rations. Plenty of consumables had been left when Chewbacca and R2 dropped her off, more than enough to sustain them both for many years, but Luke still frequently went without eating for days at a time. After living predominantly off of nutrient loafs for most of her life, Rey couldn't rightly complain about the rations the Resistance provided.

As she mounted the last few steps up to the most intact portion of the temple's courtyard, she felt a peculiar tickle at the edge of her consciousness that prompted her to pause and turn, trying to locate what had caused the Force to respond in the way that it had. It was a few more seconds before she finally spotted it: a small, light blot against the blue sky, descending from the atmosphere and growing larger as it headed toward them. Before she could fully discern the shape of the object, realization struck her as the tickle turned into a light, pleasant hum.

"Master Luke… It's the _Falcon_!" Rey noted excitedly, walking briskly across the piazza toward where her teacher was emerging from the largest structure of the remaining temple compound.

"Indeed… I was beginning to wonder when they'd come check in on you," Luke mused as he strode to meet her, moving at a rather leisurely pace. He gave her a knowing look, nodding in the direction of the flat field near the beach where Rey had first set foot on Ahch-To. With a flash of a grin she took off, jogging down through the ruins and descending the hundreds of winding stone steps that lead down to the coastline.

Rey arrived just as the _Millennium Falcon_ touched down, the loading ramp dropping just as the landing stabilizers cut out. She moved to meet Finn's grinning face, knowing a similar expression was on her own. He looked good, healthy- not like the last time she saw him, not knowing if that would be her last memory of him. She noted that still wore Poe's jacket, though he had finally gotten rid of the last remains of his Storm Trooper garb and instead sported a white base-layer and dark gray pants, no doubt courtesy of the Resistance. It felt good to hug him again, knowing he was still alive and healthy enough to make the trip to visit her.

"Rey… I'm so happy you made it here. I knew you would," Finn said warmly with a slight tightness in his throat as he pulled away, looking over her features more intently as if to reassure himself that she was alright and that it really was _her_.

The Padawan felt herself grinning anew, unable to mask the excitement of seeing her friend again and finally having someone to share her experiences of the previous few months with. A wholehearted, warbling roar reached her ears just as she went to speak, causing her to peer around Finn's shoulder as Chewbacca ambled down the ramp with R2-D2 close behind. Disentangling herself from Finn's embrace, Rey jogged a few steps to wrap her arms around the lumbering Wookiee who gave another intricate vocalization, his chest vibrating against her cheek as she laughed.

"Oh come on, that's a bit harsh! You know you like being back in the fray," Rey chided, giving the large creature a gentle push as she stepped back, nodding to R2 when he greeted her before to darting past her with a series of chirrups and whirrs. Rey glanced over her shoulder to see her Master on the weathered steps, the droid excitedly rocking back and forth at the sight of his long-time companion.

"Amazing… I didn't think the First Temple would still be so complete! These ruins could be 4, 5,000 years old; or older still… I can't figure how it survived the Empire- evidently it's been deserted for millennia, practically forgotten, so maybe that's not so far beyond the reach of the imagination. The old Order could have left any number of things for us to learn from-" Rey turned toward the unfamiliar woman who had been speaking more to herself than anyone else, noting that she drew to an embarrassed pause when their eyes met and stopped at the edge of the metal ramp, unsure if she should approach.

Even from a distance the woman looked well put-together, her tailored outfit made of rich fabrics with a fair amount of gold trim and shiny closures. She appeared fairly young, still a bit older than Rey herself but no more than five or six years by her best judgement. What really struck her was that something about the woman just seemed… out of place, like she wasn't the sort who would be fighting on the ground for the Resistance.

"Rey, this is Zerra Bridger. She's one of the people who was helping the General track down Luke Skywalker," Finn said by way of introduction, motioning to the tall, dark-haired girl to join them. Zerra gave her a quick, somewhat crooked smile before moving to Chewbacca's side; even in the flat boots she wore she still stood as tall as the Wookiee's shoulder.

"Well, in fairness I was already trying to find this temple… It's really just pure coincidence that this is where Master Luke was suspected to have gone," Zerra asserted in an attempt to contradict the pleased tone of Finn's voice, her shoulders giving a slightly apathetic heave.

"When General Organa told me that Master Skywalker had been found at the First Temple after all, well, she seemed to think that I earned the chance to come see this place for myself."

The droid began to speak rapidly in Binary as the aged Jedi finally reached them, placing a familiar hand atop R2's domed head in response his old friend's animated greeting before continuing on toward the rest of the group. Chewbacca gave an equally warm greeting as Luke approached, and Rey saw her Master grace them with one of his rare smiles.

"I'm glad they're keeping you busy, Chewie- and it's good to see you again, too," Luke replied quietly, earning an enthusiastic response from the Wookiee.

"Master Luke, this is Finn," Rey happily, nodding to the man who stood to Luke's right. She'd spoken often to her Master of Finn's unwavering steadfastness and dedication to the Resistance- as well as his past experiences with the First Order.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Finn said wholeheartedly, his dark eyes roving the Jedi's wizened features. Luke nodded his head firmly in response, turning his eyes to the last unfamiliar face.

"And this is Zerra," Luke's Padawan continued, not missing the intent way he was regarding the other woman. His eyes moved slowly back and forth between the embroidered gold crest on her capelette and the pair of diminutive black dots on the lashline beneath her pupils. It seemed as if he were seeing something… _more_ than the rest of them.

After a moment he rewarded her with a similar nod to what he had given Finn, slowly turning back towards the ruins.

"Come, we were about to sit down to eat… I'm sure Leia has some secondary reason for having you all fly all the way here besides a visit, so we might as well make ourselves comfortable in the meantime," the old Master proposed, leading the way back up the island's mountainous terrain.

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 **;To be continued**


	2. Chapter 2: The Librarian

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 **Fate's Folly  
** **Chapter 2: The Librarian  
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It took only a few minutes once the group reached the plaza in the heart of the lower temple ruins for Finn and Chewbacca to successfully repurpose a chunk of fallen pillar as additional seating around the small firepit, ensuring they could all sit together. Zerra watched the younger woman, Rey, venture off on the pretense of getting additional rations for their guests before excusing herself to explore some of the nearby structures.

Zerra had been to many of the temples that had survived the Empire's Jedi purge, though they were few and far between and had often been completely looted or defaced by the time she reached them. Even still, the temples that had remained standing were marvelous, colossal testaments to those who used their attunement to the Force to serve and protect the ones who needed it most. The First Temple, however, was decidedly humble by comparison.

Ascending the uneven stone footpath, her eyes studied the weathered series of buildings that lined either side of the causeway, at least one of which had the roof caved in such that the oblong walls were exposed to the open sky. Each building was fairly similar in shape, though their sizes varied from one to the next, built of small rocks that were stacked snugly together and rose up slowly to a rounded peak.

It wasn't hard to imagine that the temple had been more extensive when it was still occupied, but over time and after thousands of years of abandonment, structures made of lesser materials would have crumbled and been taken over by nature. Only the strongest, and oldest, portions of the temple remained to this day. Zerra came to a stop after she passed the last pair of buildings, observing the pyramid-shaped structure that was nestled against the cliff at the far end of the promenade. There wasn't any sort of doorway that she could see, at least not like those in the other buildings. It almost certainly wasn't a sepulcher, considering the fact that cremation was the proper means of entombing a Jedi, but perhaps it was a meditational shrine or a commemorative monument of some kind.

A slight pang of hunger hit her as she pondered the possible function of the stone construction, drawing her attention away from the ruins and instead to the meal that was waiting back in the square. Ruefully Zerra retracted her steps, finding the group largely where she had left them. Finn met her eyes when she came back into view and she flashed a smile, heading over to sit among them.

Over the fire hung a rather large pot of what appeared to be several different ration packs combined into a thick, bubbling stew ripe with vegetables and protein. Rey was stirring the mixture every so often, beginning to pass out servings in metal bowls as Zerra settled on Finn's other side. While Zerra accepted the bowl Rey offered with a murmur of gratitude, Luke caught the former Stormtrooper's eye.

"What kind of opposition is the Resistance facing? It must be significant if you've all been sent here… No doubt to convince myself and Rey to return with you," the Jedi Master observed, Chewbacca responding almost instantly with a plaintive vocalization.

"It's that bad, huh?" Rey murmured, cradling her own meal in her lap as she turned her concerned gaze to Finn.

"From what I've seen, the Order's acting like it did when they were searching for the map- concentrated ground attacks all over the Unknown Regions and Core Worlds. Just like then, they're not going after any major cities- only small civilian settlements. It's like Starkiller Base was never destroyed, like they don't even care we cut them off at the waist. And still, we can't even prevent any of these new attacks because we don't know where they're going to strike next," the young man explained slowly, fixing his stew with an unwarranted glare.

Zerra could feel the frustration rolling off the man beside her, busying herself with her meal in order to distract herself. She'd heard these same vexations expressed by just about every Resistance leader she'd come in contact with recently. The First Order was just too unpredictable, they said. They didn't give any warning as to when or where they were going to strike, so they clearly weren't trying to coax an engagement. It seemed they'd much rather just get in and out before the Resistance could intervene... Perhaps they _were_ looking for something, after all.

"What's the General going to do? She must have something in mind, especially if she wants us to come back," Rey then prompted, looking to her Master before returning her attention to Finn as he began speaking.

"If she does she hasn't said anything about it. She's been sending scouts and patrols into different systems in the focal zones, trying to see if we can catch them in the act, but we haven't caught sight of them yet. It's a shot in the dark, but there's not much else we can do- not with the fleet still practically at half its previous size. What I don't get is that the First Order clearly knows where our main base is, but they haven't even tried to attack us. But I know it's going to come any day now, and when that happens we'll get a chance clean them up once and for all."

For a while they ate in silence, some mentally replaying Finn's report more times than others. It was Zerra broke the stillness after a long moment of contemplation, teeth worrying her lower lip before she turned to face Finn and Rey more fully.

"You may have to convince the Resistance to find some other way to confront them if you want to do it sooner rather than later. The First Order likely wouldn't take that kind of risk right now; not when they can just as easily wait and make an example out of the Resistance later."

"What do you mean? We're practically at our weakest- if they wanted to come after us, now would be the time," Finn asserted, shaking his head slightly as he attempted to reconcile with the notion of the First Order _not_ taking advantage of their current state. Throughout their training Stormtroopers were taught to be ruthless, to exploit every advantage in order to win. It seemed almost unfathomable that the government who trained them would act in any other fashion, especially considering how many uprisings they had been sent to quell in the Unknown Regions whenever the Order's authority was questioned.

"Super-governmental bodies that suffer devastating losses don't typically attempt immediate retaliation; especially regimes like the First Order. They're persistent- they'll keep collecting small victories while they wait for their fleet to rebuild and their troop count to increase again. The Order controls academies, factories, shipyards, and energy-mines all over the galaxy; resources the Resistance doesn't currently have and would have trouble getting access to. All the Order has to do is maintain the appearance that they're still in control while they recoup their losses," Zerra explained, her moss green eyes dancing between the faces of the Resistance fighters.

"So you're trying to tell me we just have to sit around and wait until they come at us with a full fleet?" Finn inquired somewhat irritably. It was obvious that the prospect didn't sit well with him, nor Chewbacca who made sure his displeasure was equally expressed.

"The Resistance will do something- they must know that we can't afford to wait. The Republic will have to help us now," Rey interjected, looking between Chewbacca, Luke, and Finn for affirmation.

"There's not much help to be had, I'm afraid. The Republic is in a state of chaos; they took a massive loss to their fleet, and the Senate is non-existent. The Resistance would have to wait for elections to be over before there would even _be_ a Senate to give them aid- assuming the new Senate will take the threat of the First Order more seriously than the last. Until then, the Order knows it has free reign and we have no way of predicting how many governments will sooner defer to the First Order than rejoin the Senate. They're aiming for complete and undisputed control over the galaxy, just like the Galactic Empire once had."

Finn seemed uncharacteristically disheartened by her observation, but Rey appeared conversely intrigued.

"You're saying that the First Order is just the Empire by another name?" Rey then said somewhat demandingly, her hazel eyes displaying her curiosity. She was a quick learner, Zerra noted; it didn't take her very long to pick up on the pattern that was forming between the Empire and the First Order.

"Well, that's more personal conjecture on my part than anything else; after the signing of the Galactic Concordance many of the leaders of the Empire retreated into the Unknown Regions. We've not been able to find much information about their activities for the last… 30 years or so," Zerra replied, tucking an errant strand of hair that had escaped her plaited updo behind her ear.

"You said something else about the Empire before- how you thought they might have destroyed this temple. The Empire was fighting the Rebellion, so what would they want with the Jedi?"

For a moment, Zerra wasn't quite sure what to say. She knew that few people thought of the Jedi as anything but a myth, especially those who were born within the last 50 years, and that the true identity of Emperor Palpatine had never been openly shared with the galaxy. What did perplex her, however, was fact that Luke Skywalker apparently hadn't revealed any of this to his Padawan already. Seeing the look in Rey's eyes, the eagerness to know and understand, Zerra was compelled to speak despite whatever Luke's intentions had been for keeping her in the dark.

"Before the rise of the Galactic Empire about 65 years ago, the galaxy was governed by the Old Republic. In fact they modeled the New Republic after the Old through the creation of the Galactic Senate- but the Old Republic also had the Jedi Order who acted as peacekeepers. The senator of Naboo at that time, Sheev Palpatine, rose to the seat of Supreme Chancellor around 3245, his election coinciding with the Invasion of Naboo. The invasion cast doubt on the resolve and policymaking skills of the current chancellor, which made it easy for Palpatine to win the popular vote. Around that same time, there were a number of dissenters- companies, entire planetary governments, who all left the Republic and formed the Separatist Alliance with Count Dooku as Head of State. The resulting three-year conflict, with the Jedi and an army of clone troopers on one side and the Separatists' infantry of battle droids on the other, became known as the Clone Wars."

Zerra glanced around to find another set of eyes watching her rather intently, and she realized that Finn was very likely learning all of this for the first time as well. She never thought to ask him what kind of history they taught to Stormtroopers, though she had few doubts about which side of history they would have favored. The only one who didn't seem particularly interested, however, was Luke Skywalker. Realistically, he was probably more personally familiar with this epoch of history than anyone.

"In the last days of the Clone Wars, the Jedi Order became aware that Chancellor Sheev Palpatine was just the public face of Darth Sidious, a Sith Lord. When the Order went to arrest him they were killed- slaughtered, really. The Jedi were branded as traitors, and the clone troopers turned at the Chancellor's command, murdering the Jedi Knights they once served without hesitation. Soon after, at the suggestion of Sidious under the guise of Palpatine, the Galactic Senate voted to reform the government as the Galactic Empire. Over time, the Imperial Senate was dissolved by the Emperor, Sidious, allowing him to act completely unimpeded. Jedi who had escaped the purge continued to be hunted for decades and were forced into hiding, and meanwhile the Empire demolished every temple and archive they could find in an attempt to erase the Order from history. It wasn't until Sidious was killed by Anakin Skywalker in 3281 that the Empire began its decline, leaving a space for the First Order to fill."

Rey was staring at her, she knew, but she had finally managed to catch Luke's gaze. There was a strange hollowness in his pale eyes that she was certain hadn't been there before; though what had caused it, she couldn't pinpoint.

"I thought your dad was a smuggler, Zerra- not an academic or anything like that. How do you know any of that is even true?" Finn prompted. He'd met her father a number of times in the past couple months; Ezra Bridger was one hell of a smuggler, no doubt about that. From what he'd been told the man had been with the Rebellion for most of his life- long before the Resistance even existed. Ezra had contacts all over the galaxy and was on the top of the Resistance's list of people they could rely on to get just about any arms or equipment they needed from anywhere.

"Not all of us take after our fathers, Finn… My father may be a smuggler, but my mother works for the Royal Monarchy," Zerra replied with a sidelong glance, quirking her eyebrow at his comment.

"So you are from Naboo, then," Luke noted aloud, his tone indicating that it was not so much a question as an observation. Zerra looked back to the Jedi again, recalling the way he had been focused on the insignia embroidered just below her left collarbone. He must have recognized it as the seal of the Royal House.

"Yes. I'm a Librarian, like my mother," she concurred with a nod, noting the somewhat uncertain expression on both Rey's and Finn's features.

"Librarians are the keepers and primary contributors to the Archives of the Royal Monarchy; though we actually spend far more time out in the galaxy than in the Archives themselves. We primarily track down objects, locations, and persons of interest in an effort to document them… Almost like treasure hunters, except we care more about preserving knowledge and accounts for future generations than earning a profit," Zerra clarified, gesturing abstractly with the hand holding her spoon.

"I've spent most of my life trying to preserve the Jedi lore and ancestral knowledge the Empire wanted to destroy... They didn't make it easy, mind you- but they weren't very thorough, either. Once my father learned that General Organa suspected you, Master Luke, had left in search of the First Temple he volunteered my services so to speak. He's been trying to get me involved with the Resistance in a way that didn't make my mother throw dishware at him for as long as I can remember."

"Why do you carry such an interest in the Jedi?" Luke asked at length. He was no stranger to the lack of faith many had in the old stories of the mystical Force manipulators, so for someone clearly so learnèd to take an academic interest in what was considered a child's bedtime story was highly unusual. Zerra seemed slightly wary of his question, her brow crumpling as her teeth began to worry her lip. After several breaths, she finally gave him an answer- though it wasn't necessarily what he had expected.

"My father was trained as a Jedi... Although I never had any sensitivity to the Force myself, I'd seen my father use it often enough growing up that I never doubted its existence, nor that of the Jedi Order. And I never wanted them to be forgotten again."

Luke's lips drew into a tight line as he met her eyes more steadily, voicing the first thought that came to his mind.

"Who was his master?"

"Kanan Jarrus- my maternal grandfather. At the time that they met, my father was an orphan living on Lothal. If my grandfather hadn't discovered that my father was Force-sensitive and taken him as his Apprentice, he might not be alive today- or so he claims."

"You mean Ezra Bridger, the guy who I've been playing Corellian Spike against for months, is actually a Jedi... No wonder I've never won a game against him," Finn murmured, apparently more concerned with how many Credits he had lost than anything else. For the first time, however, Luke appeared genuinely invested in what she was saying.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Finn… Before he was a smuggler, my dad was a con-artist; he probably didn't even have to use the Force to win," Zerra quipped with a small grin, giving the man a friendly jab with her elbow.

"Are you serious? Yeah, thanks Zerra; that makes me feel _much_ better…"

Rey let out a soft laugh as her friend's obvious sulking, Chewbacca making an attempt to placate Finn but having little success. Finn's Shyriiwook was still at an elementary level, so much of what would have been a kind reassurance was unfortunately lost in translation.

"I didn't know you played dejarik, Chewbacca- we'll have to play on the way back," Zerra proffered, clearly gaining more information from Chewbacca's comment than Finn did.

As the last of them finished their meals, Finn excused himself with the intent of heading down to the _Falcon_ to check for any new communications from the Resistance. Rey began to probe the Wookiee for more information about what had been going on at the Resistance base, though R2 seemed to be far more eager to jump in and answer her questions.

Zerra's eyes scanned the surrounding stone walls, noting that a large section near them utilized a type of mortar to hold the stones together as opposed to the rest of the complex. Caught up in her internal musings, she was caught slightly off guard when she turned and found Luke staring rather intently at her.

"If not for the Resistance, do you think you would have found this temple, Zerra?" the Jedi asked, his seemingly inane question striking Zerra as anything but.

Her grandfather once spoke to her of certain places, and sometimes entire planets, that were natural channels through which the Force could effortlessly flow. Most Force-sensitive individuals could sense these locations from a marginal distance, but hypothetically through very intense meditation and focus, over time one could train themselves to be able to feel these locations from greater and greater distances. A logical assumption, at least in Zerra's mind, was that Luke found the temple through the Force alone- and he wanted to know if it could be done without.

"Yes… Though it may have taken a little more time. I've seen the portion of the map contained in R2-D2's data banks, and I know I've seen most of those pieces before in the Archives. It'd be a simple matter of finding the correct overlapping points to recreate the same fragment."

"And what of the parts that weren't in R2's memory?" he then queried, Zerra giving him one of her pleasantly crooked smiles despite the melancholy she felt taint the rest of her features.

"I had spoken to Lor San Tekka a few years ago- before I began sharing my research with the Resistance and focusing solely on finding the First Temple. He was eager to share with me the knowledge he had been collecting on the Jedi throughout his lifetime, lore that he said you had helped gather, so that it could be preserved in the Royal Archives. He had so, so much wisdom, and it's because of him that I was able to account for decades of missing data," Zerra murmured, becoming momentarily lost in the memory of sitting opposite him in his hut on Jakku, listening to his accounts late into the night. He served her Tarine tea just after sundown, when the chill of the nighttime air began to seep into the earthen hut.

"If I had considered what he could have been in possession of sooner, or gone to Tuanul myself instead of passing the task off to the Resistance, San Tekka might have gotten the chance to see this temple for himself."

* * *

 **;To be continued**


	3. Chapter 3: The Compromise

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 **Fate's Folly  
Chapter 3: The Compromise**

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It wasn't often that he second-guessed himself, but the events of late left a certain amount of room for doubt. His apprentice had become something of a disappointment; it hadn't been for want of anything particular, such as a greater connection to the Force, or more determination in their cause.

It was, in fact, an abundance of shortsightedness.

Snoke had seen the rise and fall of many individuals seeking power through the Dark side, but it had been decades since one had possessed as much potential as Kylo Ren. His lineage was one that spoke of incredible strength in the Force, a trait which he fortunately inherited, and his temperament was such that he was free to harness the strength that awaited him. But for all his strengths, he had been thwarted by his own recklessness on more than one occasion. Most recently his impulsiveness cost him the only known map to Luke Skywalker- a fitting culmination of a series of imprudent decisions.

Then, one may wonder, why had he continued to invest so much time in a purportedly lost cause; the simple answer was that he had long-term vision, and in what he saw he was certain. The Knights of Ren were the First Order's, and the Dark side's, best means of combating any of the Jedi they would face on the side of the Resistance, and Kylo Ren was a vital part of that dynamic. But on a larger scale, and as an apprentice, he was completely expendable. If, or perhaps when, a more promising option presented itself, Snoke would consider it in earnest.

But until then, Kylo Ren's training would continue as planned.

"Supreme Leader… What would you ask of me?"

Snoke fixed his apprentice with an appraising look, drawing his nails absently across the armrest of his rough-hewn granite throne. He recognized that Kylo Ren had been exceptionally diligent when training with the Knights and during their private sessions since his recovery; the boy must have thought that by showing his piety he would be spared from hostility or dismissal. But that would suggest that Snoke hadn't expected this from him on some level, or that he was even incensed in the slightest. That couldn't be further from the reality of things, however. Kylo was still of use to him.

"When we unleashed Starkiller Base upon the Hosnian System- you felt the Force's reaction, did you not? For you it must have felt like more than just a change in the Force's presence. There was pain… Wasn't there, Kylo Ren?"

"… Yes, Supreme Leader."

As he had expected, then. Kylo had never fully surrendered to the darkest reaches of the Force, no matter how he tried. There was always a small amount of Light in him- only a sliver, but it was apparently enough to exert upon him the mental anguish those of a more empathetic nature were apt to suffer in response to such an event. Although Snoke considered his own memory to be uncorrupted by the passage of time, he could not accurately pinpoint when he had, if ever, encountered the pain Jedi were said to experience in such circumstances. By his own reckoning it was just as well either way.

"Then you would have been blind to it, after all," Snoke confirmed aloud, more for the discomfort it would undoubtedly cause his apprentice than for his personal benefit. To his credit Kylo didn't react outwardly- his hands remained lax and his shoulders loose, but the Force danced anxiously around him in response to the turmoil he hid behind his dark mask. From this distance it would have been simple for Snoke to take a peek into the boy's mind; fortunately Kylo's visceral responses made such an effort unnecessary. He was angry, at himself no doubt, for purportedly missing something of significance. But he was curious, too. Eager.

"What have I overlooked, Supreme Leader? How can I fix it?" Kylo Ren supplicated, his tone painstakingly dispassionate.

"While your mind was clouded by your humanity, your empathy, a new presence joined us in our mortal fold. It was peculiar however, because the manifestation lasted barely a fraction of a second before vanishing without leaving so much as a whisper of its existence. And yet, in that short time, the disturbance rivaled that caused by the Hosnian System's destruction."

Kylo Ren was silent for some time, clearly struggling to work through the possible implications of what he had just learned. During that process, however, a few pieces of information seemed to click together in his mind.

"You have foreseen the origin of this disturbance being of use to us."

Snoke's visions had provided a wealth of information in terms of what direction to steer the First Order in the past, and with very favorable outcomes; until the scavenger fell into their hands. Her subsequent meddling in their affairs made many of his future prospects become naught but ash, and nearly all his attempts of crafting Force visions since that time became purely hollow predictions. But even now Kylo had confidence in his master's abilities, clearly far beyond what Snoke had the good sense to place in them.

"An interesting assessment, Kylo Ren- it would seem reasonable to investigate this phenomenon and exploit it, if possible. Now, my apprentice, consider this; if I were to assign to you the task of locating and investigating this person of unknown intent and origin, what would be your method of doing so?"

"I wou-.." Kylo Ren's response was cut off sharply as his master raised his palm toward him, the gesture alone sufficing to communicate his call for silence.

"Ah… Patience. I do not wish for you to waste my time with the first half-formed idea that comes into your head. Your plans should not include anything impulsive, or anything the outcome of which you cannot completely control. Consider this as part of your final training," Snoke instructed evenly as he laid his hand flat on the armrest once again.

"Yes, Supreme Leader," the younger man replied after several seconds of silence, bowing ever so slightly at the waist.

"Go. Do not return to me until I summon you again, or until you have arrived at an acceptable solution."

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Finn had just reached the ship and finished checking the communication terminal from the pilot's seat when he saw Zerra appear on the steps, something about her pace and posture hinting that she was on a mission. And boy was he right. She'd cornered him by the loading ramp as he made to disembark, effectively blocking his way and forcing him to retreat back toward the communication terminal in an attempt to leave the discussion after she asked him to lie to Resistance Command in order to give her time to document the temple. But she was relentless; persistent to a degree far beyond that which he would have expected from her considering how impassive she tended to be about nearly any other subject.

"Please, Finn... Could you try to just get me three days? I can make due with two if I hurry a little, but I need to know soon," Zerra implored softly, reiterating her wishes as her fingers worried the hem of her sleeve. She stood placidly over the his shoulder as he sat in the pilots chair once again, making a show of checking for new communications even though he was sure she knew he had already done so minutes before.

"The _Falcon_ is one of the few cargo ships the Resistance has left. If they need us for some reason and we can't be there because we're stuck here waiting for you to finish your research or whatever..."

"If they contact you and say they need you back, then go; leave me here, just make sure you tell them to send someone back for me. There are plenty of supplies, and shelter," Zerra mollified, catching his eyes in the reflection of the front glass.

Finn felt his resolve begin to crumble, her apparent devotion to what had brought her to Ahch-To beginning to make him second guess if trying to win this argument would actually be worth the effort. Finally Finn let out a laborious sigh, closing his eyes and shaking his head as he attempted to come up with an explanation to give the Resistance to explain their extended trip. As if sensing what he was struggling to formulate, an impish smile formed on Zerra's lips as a curious glint lit up her moss green eyes.

"In a day or so, send the Resistance a transmission saying that we had to… recalculate a hyperspace jump midway through to avoid a collision, and it threw us off our orientation. We had to backtrack to course-correct and it set us behind a day of travel," Zerra volunteered, watching him through the reflection as he considered how the excuse might be received by Command. Finally he gave a nod of assent, prompting a quiet laugh of joy from the Naboo woman as he peered briefly over his shoulder at her.

"Fine- two days. Two. Just get going," he murmured dismissively, nodding his head in the general direction of the loading ramp. As much as he wanted to be closer to the Resistance in case they were needed, something in the back of his mind convinced him that they would be alright for two days- at least if Zerra was correct in what she had said earlier about the First Order.

"Thank you so much; I'm going to get started right away," Zerra avowed, Finn only able to shake his head in response as he watched her disappear in the direction of the bunk area. She was an odd one, even among the cast of characters that Finn had met in the months since his recovery. The Resistance was made up of individuals of nearly every race and ambition; there were the mavericks with something to prove, familial avengers, disgruntled Republic supporters who were fed up with inaction, and any other number of mixed-archetypes. And then there was Zerra. She seemed to work with them only because it helped her get closer to finding the First Temple- and she made it explicitly clear time and time again that she had no vested interest in finding Luke Skywalker, and that if he weren't at the First Temple she would not continue to aid them.

While Finn had his hopes that Zerra would stay and work with the Resistance, he ultimately wondered what would happen now that she finally found the temple. Up to this point her involvement with the Resistance didn't require her to take any major risks or have responsibility for anyone but herself, which was certainly not what working for the Resistance generally entailed. He'd never seen her pilot a fighter, though she seemed comfortable enough as Chewbacca's co-pilot on the flight here, and he'd also never seen her make any use of blaster she always carried on her hip. Now that they found Luke, and the First Temple in the process, it seemed that her time with them may have run its course. All the same, wherever Zerra would go after this or whatever she would do, Finn had a strong inclination to believe that she already had a plan in motion. She may have seemed apathetic or indifferent about their cause or any number of things more often than not, but Finn was willing to bet there were few things Zerra would invest in that didn't ultimately benefit her.

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Her breathing was labored by the time Zerra had ascended to the summit of the rocky cliffs where the temple was perched, but knowing her time was limited she continued through the settlement to the courtyard where R2 and Chewbacca remained, Luke and Rey having left to presumably continue her training. Setting her shoulder bag down with as much care as she could manage on one of the stone benches she began to organize her kit for her initial sweep of the ruins. Picking up a thin metal datapad, Zerra's eyes began to search her surroundings before landing on the blue and white Astromech droid.

"R2, are you by chance equipped with a localized universal scanner?" she queried, pleased by the affirmation the droid gave.

"Could you produce for me a three-dimensional map of the area within, say, 75 meters in every direction from this spot?" Zerra then prompted, R2 giving another assenting reply before deploying a small, curved sensor disk atop a telescoping metal rod that rose nearly a meter from the top of its metallic body.

"Can you isolate just the man-made structures and natural rock formations? Anything biological can be excluded. But if you could capture elevation markings and global coordinates on the structures as well it would be much appreciated."

Sitting down beside her analysis kit and powering on the datapad in her hands, Zerra began to record cursory atmospheric and climate data while she waited for the droid to finish its scan and construct the hologram. Normally Zerra would create facsimiles of sites by compiling and overlaying numerous models of smaller areas. The Jedi Temple wasn't exceptionally large, less than 100 meters from end to end, not including the winding steps that led down to the sea, and about half as wide; but that didn't mean working square meter by square meter was something she particularly wanted to do unless she absolutely had to. Especially when she had so little time to work with as it was.

R2-D2 called out to her after retracting its sensor antenna, projecting a holographic markup of the entire site that rotated slowly for her inspection. Zerra nodded approvingly, getting up and moving to the droid before offering the datapad so R2 could interface with it and transfer a copy of the map.

"This is perfect… Now all I have to do is set up additional data point entries and then map the sectors," Zerra ruminated aloud to herself as the droid formed a hardline connection with her datapad, the map rendering on her screen shortly before R2 disconnected after alerting her that the transfer was complete.

"Thank you, R2- this helps a lot," the Naboo woman murmured, navigating the mapping tools on her datapad to reconfigure the model for her purposes. Chewbacca watched her carefully before inquiring what she was hoping to find. He had been present when Zerra asked Luke if she could document the ruins in full, though she never said specifically why she was going through all the trouble.

"… I'm not sure. This temple already holds extreme historic value- its very existence adding credence to the Jedi and their lore. It gives us a glimpse of how they lived, and what they valued. And maybe, hopefully, this place won't be forgotten again… Even though that's the only reason it's still standing today," she explained thoughtfully, sparing a glimpse at the Wookiee as he gave a considerate nod in response before she packed her kit and slung it over her shoulder while keeping the datapad in hand.

"Call me when it's time for the evening meal," Zerra said somewhat distantly as she headed off, her mind already preoccupied with the task at hand as she headed for the largest of the buildings. It was far wider and taller than the others, with a small window built high in the corbelling roof and wide, thin stones jutting from the sides of the structure that suggested the presence of stairs and possibly a second floor.

Zerra ducked through the low doorway before straightening and observing the exposed rock interior of the building that very much mirrored the outside. There were stairs that spiraled around the building, leading up to what was presumably the wooden floor of a second story that had long since rotted away from moisture over the centuries. Removing a sphere about the size of her fist from the bag at her hip she powered it up via a few quick commands on her datapad, releasing it to slowly float about the ovular room on its own accord and begin scanning the entire interior. As the ruins were replicated on the screen before her, Zerra projected the hologram of the site from her datapad's memory, linking the scans that were being collected to the data point on the exterior of the building she currently stood inside of. From her own experience, sites like these with both internal and external components were best preserved in a dynamic fashion instead of linearly. It was the same layout they used in the Archives, so organizing it as such from the start was much easier for everyone involved.

Zerra went on like this for the first couple buildings closest to the courtyard, completely documenting the first building she had gone in to which she presumed to be a common area of sorts, as well as one building that appeared to be lodgings, complete with slightly worn rock slab beds, shelving, and a few pegs near the doorway. She did her best to survey the collapsed structure, figuring it may be bunkhouse like its neighbor. It was past dusk by the time Zerra reached the second largest building in the compound- an oratory perhaps, based upon her initial observations. It was starting to get too dark to be precise about anything, and Chewbacca's call drew her back to the piazza where the rest had already gathered and the evening meal was underway.

"Find anything interesting?" Luke inquired as Zerra neared, surprising her somewhat. He had seemed disinterested in her request to conduct a full survey of the site, giving her permission in the most blasé fashion by stating that he "didn't own the temple". While that was true, Zerra was inclined to argue that it did belong to the Jedi Order, of which he was the last remaining member. Opting not to remind him of that fact, and having been given his assent anyhow, she didn't push the issue further and had gone to convince Finn to give her the time she needed.

"Nothing groundbreaking, if that's what you're asking. Just a few things of cultural note, and a nice piece of relief sculpture I'd like to take a closer look at in the oratory," Zerra indicated with a nod of her head. "But I'm content with waiting until tomorrow. It's not going anywhere."

Luke responded with a quiet grunt, shoveling a spoonful of Nerf stew into his mouth to effectively end the conversation.

"Anything from the Resistance?" Rey then asked, her eyes on Finn who could only shake his head.

"Nothing- but no news is good news, right?" the former Trooper responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "Besides, if something happened you guys would have felt it. That's a Force thing, isn't it?"

Rey gave a small smile, nodding lightly.

"That's what Master Luke tells me, anyway," she added, sparing a glance at the older man beside her. Luke never lifted his gaze from his knees, apparently having withdrawn back into his thoughts.

Zerra watched him openly, eyes moving from head to toe and back. He'd been a hermit for the better part of the last ten years. Even as a Jedi, there was nothing to keep him from blaming himself for the deaths of his Padawans. And his isolation undoubtedly exacerbated any self-loathing he may have harbored. Luke had been completely alone with his guilt for half a decade- and yet he was still alive, willing to take another Padawan and show her the way of the Jedi.

Admittedly Zerra hadn't really understood why General Organa was willing to go to the lengths she did in order to find someone who may have very well been dead, even if he was her brother. At first glance the fifty-aught year old hardly seemed to be anyone getting excited over, especially given his current condition. He struck her as somewhat mentally detached, as if he existed in the now physically and his mind was somewhere else entirely. A different place... A different time, perhaps.

Even now Zerra was somewhat curious as to how such an individual would fare adjusting to the war he was willingly walking into by joining up with the Resistance. As soon as they left Ahch-To, however, Zerra was set to head back home- far away from all the fighting. She was particularly eager to share her discovery with her mother and her fellow Librarians, who would no doubt be just as thrilled as she. Regardless of what became of the Republic and the First Order, Zerra had confidence that the knowledge they had pledged their lives to collect and preserve would endure beyond the outcome of this war. And with any amount of luck, the conflict would keep its distance from Naboo and everything they had built as it had thus far- if not, this war could go from being an unfortunate backdrop of her everyday life to becoming something very, very personal.

* * *

 **;To be continued**


	4. Chapter 4: The Undertaking

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 **Fate's Folly  
Chapter 4: The Undertaking**

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* * *

Zerra raced the dawn that morning, stumbling from the barracks miraculously without disturbing either of her sleeping shipmates. As she gathered a clean set of clothing from the footlocker beneath her bunk an abrupt snuffling from the Wookiee drew her to pause momentarily, thinking she'd woken him, but still deep in the throes of sleep he merely rolled onto his side and reverted to his snoring slumber. Lips quirking humorously she retreated to the washroom to dress and prep for the day, racing through her morning routine before returning to the bunks just long enough to store away her sleepwear and throw her satchel over her shoulder in preparation for the long climb back up to the temple. She spared a last glance at Finn, who was fortunately a much quieter bunkmate than Chewbacca, and she could tell from the rhythm of his breathing that he had been equally unaffected by her movement about the cabin. Although he clearly had reservations about prolonging their stay on Ahch-To, and while Zerra was also somewhat surprised that he had agreed at all, she was grateful that he had extended his trust to her even if she had a strange way of showing it.

Reaching the piazza in the heart of the temple, once again out of breath and internally lamenting her less-than-desired level of endurance, Zerra began methodically recording local weather data, eyes straying upward as the sky began to lighten and the twin moons that soared overhead faded from view. The morning was still, set over the backdrop of rolling waves and punctuated by the occasional call of a seabird; it left her to marvel quietly as the sun crept up over the ruins, casting long shadows across the cobblestone paths that wound outward from the courtyard before merging into the lingering darkness. Mind focused raptly on the task awaiting her in the oratory she wasted no additional time and propelled herself forward with a purpose, returning to the last building she had explored the previous evening with the intent to more thoroughly examine the carving therein. She had to bend at the waist and crouch somewhat to fit through the stout doorway, being able to straighten once she was inside the oratory and give the room another cursory once-over before making her way closer to the relief sculpture that dominated the wall bordering the main pathway.

Her fingers brushed the rough stone, noting how markedly well-preserved it was despite the temple's age; the fact that so much of it was still standing seemed to indicate that these buildings were in fact watertight despite the lack of any sort of binding agent between the stones. The other option that made sense was that the planet simply had a very mild weather year-round and rain simply wasn't a common occurrence. As she studied the wall she made special note of the presence of some sort of plaster very similar to that used to strengthen the walls around the main square, a feature she had noted the previous evening over dinner. The mortar hadn't been applied to any of the other walls of the structure, something she confirmed with another quick glance around, and she became more and more certain that the bit of artwork that had fascinated her had been purposely obscured behind the thick, off-white stucco. After another moment of consideration and the time it took to program the holoscanner to record her progress, Zerra settled on her knees and began to chip away at the mortar piece by piece. The edges surrounding the already visible relief sculpture flaked off with only a little encouragement from her thumbnail, but soon she relented to using a loose stone to break up the more resilient sections with a few sharp taps before clearing it away with her fingertips. It was slow, methodical work, but Zerra was hesitant to use a more aggressive method to clear the plaster for fear of destroying any of the engraving's details.

Long ago Zerra had learned that it was a largely futile task to attempt to understand or figure out why something had been done- but that knowledge had never really been enough to stop her from dreaming up any number of explanations. From her observations she was able to be sure of a few facts concerning the engraving. For instance, it was present in what was likely one of the very first structures built at the temple, and additionally it had been covered by plaster many, many years after its construction during a time period that coincided with the inner retaining wall around the piazza being reinforced with the same mixture. And despite the markedly laughable amount of indicative evidence, her erratic and naturally inquisitive mind was able to develop a number of partial theories.

First, and probably the most likely from a historic perspective, was that geological changes had caused some of the structures to shift over time and the plaster was eventually applied to stabilize them, as well as to protect and preserve the relief sculpture in the oratory. A less likely candidate was that the stucco had been applied by the Old Order shortly before they abandoned the First Temple to conceal the engraving without destroying it, which would indicate that it held some importance to them; but then why would they hide it, or why not simply take it with them? Zerra's third theory was rather similar to her second, but was slightly more sinister in nature. The Order would have tried to disguise the sculpture short-term with the intent of returning for it later after whatever threat they faced had been dealt with- but they never got the chance. The interesting thing was that history had a way of repeating itself, and Zerra had encountered situations where each of the theories she'd considered in order to explain the engraving's concealment at some earlier point in her career. Realistically, there wasn't much outside the realm of possibility once the Jedi Order became involved.

In the largely shadowed room it was difficult to tell how much time had passed before Finn ducked through the archway into the oratory, grumbling about 'short Jedi' as he finally straightened up in the middle of the room. "We were wondering where you'd disappeared to. Have you been here all morning?" the Resistance fighter asked, his eyes roving over the exposed markings carved deep into the stone wall. The only answer he got was a muted hum, Zerra's hands never stilling as she continued her excavation with only moderate awareness of his presence. He shifted his gaze to the back of her head, letting out a quiet sound of exasperation. He'd seen her like this before, though she'd been pouring over the information gathered by Chewbacca, R2, and the _Falcon_ 's external monitors after dropping Rey off at the First Temple. It was futile to try getting anything out of her besides a monosyllabic mumble, and you could forget trying to pull her away from something until she decided something else interested her more. With a shake of his head he stooped to get out through the diminutive doorway, calling out to her over his shoulder as he began to walk away.

"We're eating if you want to come join us."

The invitation fell on deaf ears as Zerra remained stuck in her familiar trancelike state, hands moving mechanically over the rough surface of the wall to break away the brittle plaster bit by bit, all the while admiring each new portion of an image or character of a dead language that was revealed to her. Once the challenge of translating the inscriptions was posed Zerra decided that she couldn't stop working, spurred by the knowledge of her very limited remaining time to completely document the engraving and finish her observations of the rest of the temple before she'd have to leave- but only for a little while if she had her way. No doubt once she presented her initial findings the Librarians would agree to send her back to the site for further documentation, but only if her evidence that this was indeed the First Temple was substantial; and because she doubted 'because I found Luke Skywalker there' would be enough to convince them that the temple she found was indeed the First, her chances of returning any time in the near future hinged on her ability to gather enough information to convince the Council.

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"Did you find her?" Rey prompted as soon as she caught sight of him, Finn giving a nod as he moved to sit beside her on the stone slab. "Yeah, she was in that big building right there wrapped up in that carving," he replied, nodding in the direction of the oratory. "By the looks of it she's been in there since dawn at least; she wasn't on the ship when I woke up so she had to have left pretty early," he added as he began to pick at his meal. "Is she going to come eat?" Rey then asked, Finn giving an answering shake of his head. "I doubt it. When she gets this focused on something she's impossible to talk to. It's kinda freaky sometimes. I've actually seen her sit dead still for hours just going over data, and then all of a sudden get up and go do something completely different like whatever she'd just spent half a day on didn't matter at all."

"Have you ever asked her about it?" Rey inquired, Finn giving her a look. "And how exactly do you suggest I politely ask her why it is that she can just go catatonic at will?" "I don't know; it just seems like something you should want to know if you're going to keep working with her on a daily basis," Rey defended, Chewbacca's proceeding comment causing her brow to furrow.

"What's that supposed to mean? Why would she leave the Resistance?"

"Because, to Zerra, this isn't her war. Her work with the Resistance was strictly limited to searching for the First Temple- and not because Command doesn't want her involved, but because she doesn't _want_ to be. Once we get back to D'Qar she's just going to go back to whatever she was doing before she got involved with us," Finn explained, unable to fully mask the discontent in his voice. "But it's not like we can force her to stay. And any time someone tries to talk her about staying she will physically get up and leave the room. I mean, what do you even do with someone like that?"

"Then she is wise to go," Luke commented almost absently in between bites after a pregnant pause. "If she has no ambition to stay then her contribution will be negligible. Perhaps not intentionally, but she will be far less diligent and her work will surely show it. The reason she is so successful in what she does, such as leading you to this temple, is because she believes it is worth the effort. So the question becomes, why would she give her time to a cause that doesn't contribute to her own ambitions?"

"Maybe because it's the right thing to do, and I know she can still help us," Finn said stiffly, fixing the older man with a hard stare which he blatantly ignored in favor of chewing the preserved meat on his plate. Rey's eyes flickered between the two men before dropping to her lap as she found herself somewhat at a loss for words. While Zerra was clearly an asset as Finn had said, Rey could hardly fault her for not wanting to continue with the Resistance when she had people outside of it who were highly reliant upon her. From where she was standing it was clear that the partnership that the Librarian had formed with the Resistance was one of convenience and mutual benefit, and now that she had nothing to gain it was natural that she would want to return to where she could continue her work.

The Resistance simply had nothing to offer her any longer, and Rey suggested as much only to receive silence as a begrudging assent on behalf of the former Stormtrooper and a resigned sigh from their Wookiee companion.

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Several hours passed before Zerra was able to get to her feet and step back from the wall to take in the full picture, immediately creating a still image of the engraving and linking it to the virtual workup of the site on her datapad. As the holoscanner began generating a 3-dimensional copy of the sculpture she absentmindedly picked the dried blood and bits of plaster out from beneath her blunt nails, grimacing slightly and quickly redirecting her attention to the remaining half of the temple that still had to be surveyed. Pulling her satchel over her shoulder and grabbing the scanner from the air once it'd finished its task of replicating the image on the wall she finally emerged from the oratory and continued her tour through the temple. After noting the garden that stretched out beside the oratory, documenting two more housing structures and an ancient kitchen, designated as such by the firepit set into the floor and the small smokehole in the roof, Zerra proceeded away from the main cluster of buildings toward the pyramid-shaped structure she'd made a mental note of during her initial walkthrough.

Standing before it once again she was able to verify that the monument rose only a few feet over her head at its highest point, making it rather unlikely to have been built as a shelter of any sort. Walking around it more slowly she began to look for any sign of a filled-in archway or portal, but finding none Zerra paused in her observations to sit on the edge of the outer retaining wall, contemplating the possible purpose of the structure. It could simply have ceremonial value, or been used as a gathering place. It seemed that this would simply be one of the instances where trying to figure out the _why_ would only result in more questions than answers, especially when there was nothing noteworthy to speculate upon.

Soon her mind drifted to the temple's lone occupant for the the past six or seven years; Luke Skywalker. Before he had exiled himself to the temple, he and Lor San Tekka had been traveling the galaxy with largely the same goal that now drove her to explore unfamiliar regions and risk her life on a frightening regular basis- all for the sake of knowledge or historic sites that may or may not still exist. Zerra had only risen from Apprentice to Librarian within the last 10 years, and it was impossible to imagine how much knowledge could have been lost during the time when no one was actively searching for it. But Luke was practically a living treasure trove of first and second-hand accounts of Jedi lore, many of which he could feasibly be the last holder of- particularly regarding what he had learned of the First Temple during his stay. She made a special note to ask him more about the temple once they were aboard the _Falcon_ on the way back to the Resistance. She was becoming particularly interested in hearing whatever he might be able tell her about the meaning of the carving in the oratory now that it could be seen in full.

Suddenly, and almost startlingly, a question occurred to her; why had the Jedi Order used an engraving to preserve knowledge when they had objects like holocrons, which were portable and capable of retaining a much larger volume of information?

Admittedly her familiarity with Force-applications for information preservation was limited, her only personal experience being the holocron her father had kept locked in the wall safe at home. Her grandfather's master had given it to him when he was just a Padawan, and at some point he had passed it on to her father. Over the years Zerra had been fortunate enough to see a number of the notable items contained in the holocron; maps with locations of Jedi temples all over the galaxy, a warning given to the surviving Jedi by Obi-Wan Kenobi during the rise of the Galactic Empire, and even a lesson in handling a lightsaber as taught by Anakin Skywalker.

One of her favorite childhood stories was how her father's Force sensitivity had been discovered with the help of the very same holocron, although the memory of the first time she held the holocron herself it wasn't one Zerra liked to dwell on. While he had smiled and tried to make it seem like it didn't matter, she could never forget the flash of disappointment she'd seen in her father's eyes when she hadn't been able to open the holocron by her own volition. He never refused her curiosity about the holocron's contents, something she was eternally grateful for, and was always willing to open it whenever she wanted to look at the maps or simply watch the holograms that her father and grandfather had amassed over the years.

Naturally this experience had fueled her curiosity surrounding the Jedi Order and guided her to the path she currently walked, but the lacking presence of holocrons in the Royal Archives had always been somewhat troubling to her. She'd come across passing mentions of them in the past, either by individuals or in records, but very little else was given in way of what they could contain or what other purposes they may have served. It seemed that their construction, use, and nearly everything else about them was very secretive and closely guarded by the Jedi Order.

Zerra had heard of the Archives in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant that had once contained a vast collection of holocrons that spanned eras, but the Empire's rule saw much of the information contained within the Archives scattered or destroyed completely; when she and her grandfather had visited the palace once when she was a girl he told her that the building which stood where the Temple once had was nothing like it was in his youth. The Empire had completely rebuilt the structure, changing its size and shape and leaving only the spires behind. The Archives had been reduced to a mere shadow of what they had once been before what records had been left behind were gifted to the Archives of the Royal Monarchy on Naboo, while the Vault and its contents were lost to time with the deaths of the last Jedi Masters. When the New Republic abandoned Coruscant as its seat of power the former palace fell into the hands of the local Senate where it became nothing more than a center of bureaucracy, and Zerra was left to wonder if they were aware of wealth of knowledge that could be right under their noses. But even if they did know, by some miracle, the Vault was useless to them without a means of opening it.

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Rey observed the woman quietly from where she stood a short distance down the path from the cenotaph, realizing quickly why she'd received no response to her earlier summons. Zerra's eyes were closed and her features lax as she sat on the retaining wall with her hands in her lap and her feet pressed flat against the inside wall to keep her balance. This must be something like the catatonia that Finn had mentioned, but to her Zerra simply looked like she was in a meditative state- completely dead to the world beyond her own mind. Venturing closer and calling out to her again the Padawan received no response, prompting her to finally reach out a hand toward where Zerra's own were folded in her lap. The tap of fingers on the back of her hand was enough to break the spell, the Naboo woman's moss-green eyes slowly opening as if she'd just emerged from a deep sleep.

"Sorry, have you been there long? I guess I'd gotten lost in thought again… Was there something you needed?"

Rey's brows lifted slightly at the rapid-fire string of questions and observations, unable to help the small smile that crept onto her features. "No, it's nothing really. I just came to see if you wanted to have dinner since you didn't come eat with us at midday," the young woman explained, watching Zerra's eyes slide slowly from hers to focus on something over her shoulder. "Do you know anything about this monument, per chance? Considering the practically utilitarian construction of the temple it just seems… out of place," Zerra mused, completely ignoring Rey's own question in favor of posing her own. The former scavenger ventured a look over her shoulder even though she knew full well to what Zerra was referring. Deciding to humor her, Rey turned more fully to the four-sided stone pyramid and walked over to lay her hand upon it.

"Master Luke says it acts like a channel for the Force as it flows through the planet; it's particularly strong here at the temple, and this spot is where it's at its purest. Without being able to sense the Force it seems irrelevant like you said, but for us it's a space for easy meditation and for establishing a closer connection to the Force that extends out into the universe," Rey affirmed, relishing the pleasant thrum she felt pulse through her body from prolonged contact with the rough stone. She retracted her hand as the older woman's fingers moved effortlessly over datapad she'd removed from her bag in an effort to catalogue what she'd just learned, Rey's hands finding purchase on her narrow hips as she shifted her weight. "So you're coming to dinner, then?"

"Hm? Oh, yes; I'm going to take a few more notes and I'll meet you there," Zerra affirmed with a small smile, sweeping an errant strand of hair from in front of her eyes as she glanced up momentarily before returning to her work. Slowly a solution to Finn's earlier undertaking of trying to retain Zerra's alliance began to form, and Rey resolved to speak to Master Luke about it later once the others returned to the _Falcon_ for the night. With a nod of parting, the younger woman began making her way back toward the rest of the group with a small bounce in her step and a smile on her face.

* * *

 **;To be continued**


	5. Chapter 5: The Archives

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 **Fate's Folly**  
 **Chapter 5: The Archives**  
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As a child, Rey often had vivid dreams of far off places where people she couldn't recall ever meeting spoke to her like old friends. Over time the dreams became dull and harsh, the deserts of Jakku consuming her waking and sleeping hours alike. For this reason, the Padawan found herself in awe at the bustling metropolis her mind had crafted. It was surely no place she'd ever been- many of the buildings had domed jade-green roofs and were constructed with light-colored bricks. Flowers bloomed in boastful shades of red, orange, and fuchsia in rooftop gardens and planters, and trees with wide-reaching boughs seemed to grow wherever they pleased even in the heart of the city. She stood in a dense crowd on a wide sandstone walkway, overcome by a surprising sense of ease. Her eyes were drawn to the tall white statues that lined the entrance to the large building at the far end of the walkway, each effigy draped in similar white robes that cast an air of importance around the massive domed citadel.

She began to walk toward the statues, the largely human population moving around her in such a way as to not impede her progress. In fact, it didn't seem as if they knew she was there at all. Emerging from the crowd, Rey climbed a flight of low steps flanked on either side by the sculptures before passing between a pair of large pillars to reach the entryway to the palace. The pair of large doors stood completely open, lined on each side by armed guards in ribbed burgundy vests- they never even looked her way as she passed by. Inside the vaulted ceiling stretched several stories over her head, the polished stone floor and large amber pillars that lined the main corridor unlike anything she'd ever seen. People in long, sweeping robes with gold and silver embroidery over coordinating tailored outfits milled about in between and beyond the pillars, some talking in pairs or small groups while others ran errands at a much more hurried pace. Again, no one seemed to take note of her clearly out-of-place appearance. Her feet seemed to guide her on their own accord, taking her nearly the length of the main hallway before steering her through another set of open doors off to her left-hand side. Beyond the archway, the hall split into a pair of staircases on either side of the hall that descended to a common platform before circling back around as a single set of stairs that lead into the lower level of the palace. Here it was quieter than the floor above, void of any presence save her own even as she turned down the right-hand length of the hallway she found herself in.

There were a series of doors on either side of the hall at uneven intervals, the hallway taking a series of ninety-degree turns at various points before ending at a single stone doorway. The door gave way easily at her touch, the sight beyond drawing her to a pause. Tall bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling, packed from end to end with an amalgamation of all forms of data storage in an undiscernible pattern of categorization. Even as she began to walk through, each shelf seemed to be just as full as the next, all but overflowing with knowledge that could have easily spanned millennia. Several of the rows were occupied with persons dressed in matching robes in shades of gray, some alone and others helping visitors or working in pairs. Halfway up the length of shelves was a circular desk divided into two halves, a large hologram of the galaxy casting a pale blue glow over the pale room as it rotated lazily overhead. Behind the desk was a trio in gray robes talking in hushed tones over some particular document or journal. Another woman, this one in white, stood by herself scanning through a datapad she held in her hand. Something was familiar about this woman's appearance, particularly in the way she held her head at the slightest angle as she read, and how she seemed capable of holding herself as still as a statue without any apparent effort.

Slowly Rey stepped in between a pair of shelves, looking over the bound journals that glimmered in shades of light blue. Her fingers brushed along the tomes curiously, having had very little firsthand experience with any form of written medium. In fact, there wasn't much at all to read on Jakku aside from ship schematics, if you could find them, or receipts for salvaged parts after Unkar Plutt sold them to his off-world buyers. The sound of brisk footsteps approaching from the way she'd just come caused her to jerk her hand back down to her side before she could remind herself that this was all a dream- not to mention that apparently no one could see her.

"Mother," the newcomer called quietly in a breathy voice that Rey found somewhat familiar, drawing her attention as a tall woman in a short black capelet and tall flat-soled boots passed by the end of the row on her way toward the desk. Rey moved after the woman, pausing at the edge of the bookcase and watching Zerra embrace the woman in white she'd called mother. The brief interaction caused a number of factors to click into place, namely that Rey seemed to be on Naboo in the archives that Zerra had spoken of the previous day. And the woman who had seemed so familiar was Zerra's mother, their similar mannerisms having sparked a small amount of recognition in her. Slowly she began to move closer, intrigued by the excitement in Zerra's muted voice as she brought up a small hologram from the datapad in her hands.

"… member of the Imperial Ruling Council had been mapping hyperspace routes through the region for years, and I've just been able to verify one of the runs."

"After all these years? You should be sure to thank Regius for recovering Kren Blista's works."

Rey had nearly reached the pair when Zerra turned her head and their eyes locked, the younger woman feeling a flutter of unease as the Naboo began to speak.

"Rey… What are you doing here?"

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"You can see me?" Rey asked aloud, Zerra slowly walking toward her. The world around them seemed to stop; the Librarians became silent, and Zerra's mother continued to look down in the direction of the hologram that had since faded from sight.

"Obviously. But you haven't answered my question- you shouldn't be here; it doesn't make sense," the dark-haired woman countered, stopping an arm's length from the Jedi. Rey was notably perplexed, brow furrowing. "What do you mean?" This was a dream, and dreams didn't have to make sense. "When this happened, I didn't know you. You weren't in this room with me. You couldn't have been because you were still on Jakku."

"Zerra, this is a dream-" Rey went to interject, trying to figure out why she was arguing with her subconscious' representation of the Naboo woman before Zerra said something that truly caught her off guard. "Yes, this is a dream, Rey: my dream. More specifically, it's a dream recalling when I told my mother about the hyperspace route I'd found to the Deep Core. In dreams, the only faces you can see are the faces of people you've seen when you were awake… You've never met my mother, or Tanczy, or Herod," Zerra explained, motioning abstractly at several of the Librarians that remained unmoving behind the desk. "I'm not part of your dream, Rey. You're part of mine."

Slowly, realization began to dawn on Rey. The Force allowed people to jump into other peoples' minds, to see what they were thinking, what they knew. She'd experienced this unpleasant usage of the Force from both sides thanks to Kylo Ren, but she hadn't made use of the trick since nor had she ever jumped into someone else's dreams while she herself was asleep; at least not that she knew of. But it explained why no one else she passed seemed to be aware of her presence- they were simply part of a memory. Zerra was reliving the memory in her sleep, so she was aware of the fact that Rey didn't belong.

"This is a Force thing, isn't it?" Zerra asked, having watched Rey silently puzzle through their current situation before being rewarded with a nod. "This has never happened to me before, but I'm pretty sure it is. I'm sorry this happened," Rey replied, glancing off to the side briefly before meeting Zerra's gaze once again only to find a small smile on the older woman's features.

"I'm not mad. I think it's fascinating, actually. You must be very strong in the Force to be able to do such a feat without even being conscious," Zerra said softly, a hint of acknowledgement hidden in her voice. Unsure exactly what to say in response, Rey shifted her gaze from Zerra to the woman in white just behind her. "That's your mother, then?" she prompted, examining the woman more closely. Her dark hair was pulled back into a pile of loose curls, several of which had slipped from their pins and hung in wavy tendrils along her slender neck and down her back, contrasting artfully with her loosely draped white robes. Her skin was just a shade lighter than Zerra's olive complexion, but she had the same mossy green eyes and full lips. Like her daughter, as well as the other Librarians in the room, she too sported a petite black dot along the bottom lashline of each eye.

The Naboo woman followed Rey's line of sight, flashing a genuine smile before giving an affectionate nod. "Yes. She's been my most avid supporter for as long as I can remember. She got to spend her childhood traveling the galaxy with my grandmother before coming back and settling in Naboo when she was old enough for an Apprenticeship."

"Was her mother a Librarian, too?" Rey inquired, Zerra shaking her head minutely before giving a more in-depth response. "My grandmother Lorinaé was a handmaiden to Queen Apailana here on Naboo towards the end of the Clone Wars. After Apailana's reign ended my grandmother decided that she wanted to travel and started doing relief work in areas heavily impacted by the Empire's campaign."

"Seems like your family has been fighting oppressive regimes for generations," Rey observed with feigned naiveté, Zerra giving her a knowing look before placing her hands wearily on her hips and glancing off toward one of the nearby shelves. "Finn talked to you, didn't he?" the Librarian asked, knowing what the answer would be even before Rey spoke up. "Of course he did- and Chewbacca backed him up. He also said the Resistance could still benefit from your help."

"I doubt that," Zerra responded casually. "They have what they needed from me, and I have what I needed from them. I can't drop everything and just go gallivanting around the galaxy with nothing to show for it. And one person can hardly make or break a cause."

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Rey awoke with the strangest tingle at the base of her skull, prompting her to touch the affected area before sitting up more fully and smoothing her hair back out of her face. It was just past dawn, but Rey was left wondering where the night had gone. Even though she had slept for a fair length of time, she still felt tired- and her strange nighttime escapade left her brain in a slight jumble. Could she have actually entered into Zerra's dream, or was that just a dream within itself? The only way to know for sure, she decided, was to ask Zerra next time they had a moment alone.

Propelling herself out of bed Rey got ready for the day before packing up the few belongings she'd brought to Ahch-To. It was odd to think that this was her last day at the First Temple after six months of isolation. But the prospect of leaving brought about a new slough of pleasant emotions, namely the elation of seeing the General again, as well as the other members of the Resistance she'd come to know in the short time between arriving at the base and leaving to find Luke. She particularly enjoyed the starports she got the opportunity to explore at various points throughout the run.

Upon arriving at the common square she found Master Luke already awake and beginning to prepare a small morning meal for them and their guests. "You had an eventful night, I'd wager," Luke observed without looking her way. "How did you know?" Rey asked quietly as she moved to sit on one of the stone benches near the firepit harboring a low flame. "Projecting into another's subconscious is powerful skill, one which you have not yet mastered. You were compelled to channel a substantial amount of the Force in order to maintain the connection, which caused a minor fluctuation in the local Force pressure." The scavenger was about to apologize when Luke gave her a small smile. "I suppose this means we'll just have to refine your technique in the future." She gave an affirmative nod at the suggestion, unable to keep from smiling herself.

A short time later the crew of the _Millennium Falcon_ reached the top of the stairs and moved towards the Jedi, none of the newcomers appearing particularly pleased about having tackled the lengthy ascent so early in the day- least of all Chewbacca, who let out a loud vocalization that effectively communicated his discontent. "Hey, I know you don't want to be awake yet either but yelling about it isn't helping anyone," Finn contested, venturing a strikingly accurate guess at what was irritating the Wookiee. Their banter was usually very one-sided, but every now and again they were able to wind up on the same page.

"Morning," Finn greeted as the trio made to sit down, Rey responding in kind while Luke gave a small nod. "How soon can we leave?" the Padawan then asked, helping distribute the hot, porridge-like potage to each of those seated around the fire. "The _Falcon_ 's ready, so we can take as soon as we're all on board," the former Stormtrooper responded agreeably as he dug into his breakfast. The group ate in relative silence, Zerra soon setting her half-eaten meal aside and getting to her feet.

"Where are you going?" Finn asked in between bites, the Naboo sparing him a glance before looking in toward the heart of the temple. "I just want to take another look at something." She'd already started off when Finn called a reminder after her to hurry so they could get back to the Resistance as soon as possible. Rolling her eyes slightly Zerra continued on, making a beeline for the oratory. A small amount of sunlight had already begun to creep across the floor through the unobstructed archway but had yet to reach the relief sculpture on the wall. Visibility was limited, but Zerra had spent several hours after returning to the _Falcon_ the previous evening studying the hologram of the sculpture to the point that she almost didn't even need the light to know exactly that stood before her.

There was just something… special about the stone engraving. Not in a mystical sense, but a practical one. It was unique, something Zerra had never seen in any other temple previously. Perhaps it was possible that the engraving predated even holocrons, which was incredibly difficult to imagine considering the ancient nature of holocron technology. She began to consider the possibility that the engraving may have even been crafted before the First Temple- that was to say that the Temple was all but built around the sculpture in such a way that it became the centerpiece of their society. This would imply that there was another group that existed prior to the Jedi Order which had provided the foundation for the first Jedi to build upon. It was not much more but errant conjecture, certainly, but it offered a unique avenue Zerra thought might be worth investigating further; and that was assuming there would even be any evidence to support such an assertion.

Rifling through her hip pouch Zerra soon produced a simple flashlight to help illuminate the centerpiece of the engraving. While she had yet to make sense of the archaic language that framed the scene, the focal point was clearly intended to be interpretable in its own right. Five figures stood with one front and center and the others fanned out in a loose arc behind the principal being, the entire group superimposed upon a knotted tree with wide sprawling branches. The humanoids wore identical floor-length robes void of any real adornment, and most other distinguishing features seemed to be obscured or simply non-existent. Each, however, appeared to be wearing a unique mask of some sort, fashioned to represent a handful of natural emotions; anger, sadness, joy, confusion… The middle figure wore a mask void of any discernible sentiment. As a collective, Zerra was reminded of a single line in the Jedi code that appeared in many mediums over the years yet carried the same message: _There is no passion, there is serenity._

A dull throbbing in her temples seemed to scold Zerra for forgoing another meal to study the ruins, encouraging her to finally switch off the flashlight and duck out of the oratory into the early morning sun. It really was a beautiful place for a temple, Zerra observed, scanning the ocean that stretched out to meet the sky along the horizon. Twin suns began their ascent, their light dulled just slightly by the seemingly perpetual cloud cover that engulfed Ahch-To. Realizing she'd likely used up her allotted time for exploration the Librarian headed back toward the plaza where she found Finn and Chewbacca helping pack the last of the rations to bring back with them. Although the Resistance was somewhat better received by many of those who supported the New Republic and had more munitions and supplies, they weren't keen on wasting anything they could get their hands on. Upon her return they began the descent from the temple for the last time, boarding the _Millennium Falcon_ with Rey taking the helm and Chewbacca at her side.

"You sure you remember how to fly this thing?" Finn teased lightly as he leaned in between the pilot and co-pilot chairs, recalling a time when the two had fled from Jakku and the First Order aboard a much less able-bodied _Falcon_. "Well, it can't be any worse than when we found it, right? Besides, it's not like you can just forget how to pilot a ship." Rey countered, waiting until the rest of the crew had strapped in for the initial take-off as Zerra plugged in the coordinates for the first of the many hyperspace jumps that would bring them to the Resistance base on D'Qar.

* * *

 **;To be continued**


End file.
